When to Plant Monkey Flower in Des Moines, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant monkey flower is to check out the USDA zone info for Des Moines.


Planting Calendar for Monkey Flower

Frost tolerance for monkey flower: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Monkey Flower require warm weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant monkey flower
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant monkey flower
Probably not a good time to plant monkey flower

The earliest that you can plant monkey flower in Des Moines is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant monkey flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your monkey flower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your monkey flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Des Moines the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Des Moines and it is different every year. Half of the time in Des Moines it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your monkey flower if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Des Moines

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Des Moines.